Odysseus: The Qualities Of A Hero

Heroes are such great people, doing such great things for our word and the people in our world. There can be many different interpretations of a hero, but the simple definition of a hero is a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities. In The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus portrays all of the qualities of a hero. Odysseus is a hero because he shows great intellect, an enormous amount of strength, and tons of courage.

Odysseus shows the great quality of intellect. For example, Odysseus said, “...and I told the crew to stand by and keep watch over the ship: as for myself I took my twelve best fighters and went ahead” (9.134-137). Odysseus is using his intelligence by knowing when the right time is to take his best twelve

“My name is Nohbdy: Mother, Father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy” (9.394-399). Odysseus, leading from the front, displays courage and teamwork. Two main traits needed to be a hero. “I am Odysseus son of Laertes, known before all men for the study of crafty designs, and my fame goes up to the heavens” (9.19-20). Odysseus has tons of courage by respecting the gods. He invoked Zeus’ name, which is Odysseus’ way of talking his way out of trouble with Polyphemus, which took tons of courage. In some ways Odysseus cannot be heroic. “O Cyclops! Would you react on my companions? Puny, am I, in a cave man’s hands? How do you like the beating that we gave you, you damned cannibal?” (9.431-434). One of Odysseus’ biggest flaw is his ego. He is such a great hero in some aspects, and then his cocky ego sort of gets in the way of his heroic efforts. In all, Odysseus has many more heroic traits than unheroic traits. He still shows great intellect, an enormous amount of strength, and tons of courage.

In conclusion, Odysseus has most, if not all, the traits of being a hero. Odysseus is a true hero because he shows his heroic efforts throughout his long journey, even though he makes some mistakes along the way. He is just like anybody else trying to be a hero, who is human and humans make mistakes. He showed how he is very intelligent, how he can be super strong, emotionally and physically, and he displayed his great amount of courage in all of the journeys and obstacles he